In snowboarding, the last name De Le Rue evokes images of hairball lines and massive backcountry kickers—every trick and every line executed with effortless style—and Victor is quite competent with those things. But his approach to snowboarding is nomadic. Words like “search” and “explore” are intrinsic to his ethos. They manifest in his riding. This year he traveled to Japan, and his time there was more than a week-long trip with the sole goal of stacking hammers.

Japan was a location for Victor to absorb; the snowboarding was part of the equation. The cultural learning was on par with the conditions ridden, and Victor came away from his month spent there with gigabytes of footage and a newfound appreciation for the place in which it was logged.

The terrain Victor and Elias Elhardt rode went beyond the low-angle tree-riding often associated with Japan, but the greater experience is what will keep these two coming back to this place which is like no other.